Rain
by rainyday101
Summary: While working on a project together, Jack starts to look at Ram in a new light slash (ramjack)
1. prolouge

Rain

author: rainyday101

raiting: pg for now but it will most likely be pg13 later on

disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: Okay I've recently noticed the total lack of tribe slash fanfiction and have therefore decided to write some. After all no use complaining if you can do it yourself. Just to make it very clear in case you havn't figured it out, this is slash. There will be boys kissing other boys if this offends your sensibilites then leave now because i'd much rather get a flame about my terrible writing then from some jack-off screeching about blasphemy. Anyway on with the show!

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prolouge

Ram hated the rain. When he thought about it logically, he figured that he should have quite an appreciation for it considering his obbsesive love of cleanliness. But whenever it rained it always made him think of Alice in wonderland, when everbodys running around the rock trying to get dry and never quite being able to. When it rained it almost seemed plausible that a white rabbit with a pocketwatch might come around the corner talking about being late. That was somthing that Ram found unacceptable, after all order is another form of cleanliness and childrens storys coming to life is most certainly not orderly. After considering all this one would really have to wonder why the ex-leader of the technos was standing in the middle of the street while fat drops of water plastered his hair to his face and cemented his already tight clothes to his body. Although that in and of itself was enough to make anyone stop and think for a minute, the real kicker was that Ram was smiling. Now to help you understand exactly why the usually irate Ram was sopping wet with a smile that would made mona lisa proud, its prudent to take you back a little ways to what started all of this craziness.


	2. the talk

Rain 

author: rainyday101

raiting: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: okay just a reminder kiddies this is slash. on the off chance that anybody is actually reading this story I will be moving soon and it will be a couple of weeks before we get internet going so I wont be able to post anything during that time. However I fully plan to have at least three chaptors written by then and will post them as soon as I can.

chapter 0ne

Jack sat at the computer terminal next to Ram. They were working on creating a program that would enable them to know everything Mega did on the computer, every keystroke that him or anyone at the hotel made Ram and Jack would know about.

The only problem was that Jack was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate. Ever since Ellie had broken up with him stating that he never payed any any attention to her, he had started to develop a very disturbing attraction to a certain ex-head honcho of the technos.

Jack found this alarming on many levels and had written a list of everything that was wrong with Ram : he's a guy, he's evil, he's a guy, he would punch me if he ever found out I felt this way, he's a guy, he would probably laugh in my face after the aforementioned punching and then tell everyone i've ever met about the craziness that has apparently taken over my commen sense, oh yeah and did i mention that HE'S A FUCKING GUY! While Jack was busy repeating his list to himself he failed to notice Ram giving him a very strange look and was therefore quite startled when Ram agitatedly said "who's a guy"?

Jack jumped a foot in the air and startded to blush furiously. "um, nobody, i wasn't trying to talk out loud, i was just, erm, thinking" he finished lamely. Ram continued to look at him strangely and Jack almost blurted out exactly who he had been thinking about under the penetrating stare but Ram abrubtly turned away and went back to work leaving Jack free to work on returning his face to a less lobstery shade.

They continued working until they both had migraines and Ruby was yelling at them to come down for dinner if they wanted to eat because she certainly was not going to serve them. When Jack asked if he was coming Ram just waved his hand in the way that only he could, half distracted but still managing to be imperious and make you want to apoligize for wasting his time. Jack couldn't help but find it endearing.

With that alarming thought causing him to blush again Jack thought to himself 'gonna need to get that under control, I didn't even blush this bad when me and Ellie first had sex. If i don't cut this out Ram's definatly going to notice. After all he's not dumb.

"Who's not dumb"? Jack jumped and looked at Ruby who wore a semi-interested look on her face. "um... nobody?  
Ruby now appeared focused. 'Damn, great going Jack, you know the quickest way to get Ruby's attention is to play dumb'. "Just sombody i've been thinking a lot about recently".

Ruby had a decidedly evil glint to her eyes now "A girl perhaps"? If anybody else had asked the question it would have seemed perfectly innocent, but ever since slade broke her heart she seemed rather determined to fix everyone's problems. Although when Jack thought about it Ruby might be meddlesome but she was helpful and could keep a secret.

"If i tell you somthing will you promise not to tell anyone"? Ruby eagerly agreed and after getting two glassed filled with somthing alcholic-Jack wasn't really a drinker so he didn't know what-she led him up to her room and sat him on her bed while she took a chair across from him.

"Well"? she prodded. Jack took a deep breath and dove right in. "It's not a girl i've been thinking of". Ruby appeared confused for a second and then clearly a lightbulb went off because she got a startled look on her face and said 'oh' a few times.

Jack was seriously starting to regret telling her this, and was getting ready to leave when Ruby suddenly spoke up "who"? Jack turned around to face her so he could try and read her expession. Well she didn't seem disgusted, in fact now that the suprise had worn away she seemed quite curious.

"um it doesn't really matter you'd just laugh anyways, and it's not like he feels the same way in fact he'd probably beat me up if he ever found out. Besides he dosn't like any body the only thing he likes is creating computer..." Jack trailed off when he noticed Ruby was starting to get that annoying 'i've got a plan and i'm going to put it into action whether you like it or not' look

. 'Crap now she now who it is' Jack thought desolatly.

"Look, Ruby please don't do anything that would make want to hide under my cover and never show my face again" Ruby nodded her head distractedly and made muttered "yea, yea, of course I won't" Jack felt his stomach drop. He had a very bad feeling about this, and if the insanity that was his attraction to Ram seemed bad, it was nothing compared to the insanity of _telling_ _Ruby _about it.

Resigning himself to his fate he said goodnight to Ruby and went to bed, praying that whatever plant she came up with it wouldn't be to horribly embaressing.


	3. hugs and cold showers

Rain 

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: sorry for the extreme wait on the chspter but rl has been very hectic lately also i know that Ruby is very ooc in this story but its necesary for plot development. okay enough talking heres the chapter

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chapter two: hugs and cold showers

Jack awoke to the pleasant feeling of a hangover.

'Wow I didn't think I drank that much' he thought to himself. To make the day even better he had a day of working with Ram and trying not to stare at him, and Ruby's plan to look forward to.

With that thought in mind he dragged himself to the bathroom for a shower. He cringed when the cold water first hit his face. 'God, what I wouldnt give for a hot shower again'.

On the bright side, all disturbing thoughts about annoyingly attractive boys, and meddlesome girls were abandoned in the face of hypothermia.

When he had brushed his teeth and got dressed he went downstairs to grab somthing to eat.

"Hi Jack" Ruby said in an infuriatingly knowing voice.

Jack looked around and once he was sure that no one was there he went over to the bar. "Ruby, please, please, please, do not do anything embaressing". "Jack come now I said last night that I wouldn't". Not feeling reassured in the least, Jack took the cereal that Ruby gave him and ate it fast knowing that if he was late Ram would be furious, which was the last thing he needed.

With that pleasent thought in mind he made his way to Ram's room which currently looked more like a junkyard then a bedroom. Ram's little nod was the only sign that he even knew Jack was in the room.

"So, ah, what are we working on today" Jack asked trying to keep his voice level. His voice was squeaky at the best of times, but this thing with Ram often made him sound like a nine year old girl.

When Ram looked up he seemed excited which made Jack quite nervous, an excited Ram often led to disaster.

"I figured it out, we were looking at it wrong. We were trying to get in through the mainframe but that's much to obvious and there were to many firewalls, which although I could have passed would have alerted him to our presence. when I figured that out I started looking for a backdoor. That's when I remembered the failsafe I personally put into all of the computer's. It ensures that I can always get into the system no matter where I am, which means I can get a detailed history of the computer without Mega knowing, since i'm the only one who knows about the failsafe."

Then Ram did somthing that was so unlike him Jack nearly passed out.

With a goofy and triumphant grin plastered on his face Ram gave Jack a hug.

Not a particulary big one but a hug nonetheless. Then seemingly realizing what he was doing Ram abruptly backed off and busied himself at the computer again.

When he noticed Jack was standing there with his jaw hanging, he got an embaresed look took over his usually superior expression.

"What? I was happy, stop gawking and sit down so I can show you the program."

Jack quickly closed his mouth and sat next to Ram careful to keep some distance between them. After that wonderfully awkward encounter the rest of the morning went good. Jack got to caught up in the program, to think about odd displays of affection from usually affectionless guys.

Of course if he had thought about it he would have realized that Ram would never let his emotions get the better of him in front of someone he didn't like and trust.

At lunch time Ruby came up and maybe it was just because Jack knew that she knew but she seemed horribally obvious to him. Then again, maybe it wasnt just him because Ram was giving her a bit of a funny look.

Jack almost groaned when he saw that Ruby had sat them at the same table.

Ram hated eating with other people and was never one to be quiet when he was displeased with something, so when Ruby sat them down together in the corner Jack was quite suprised when Ram not only didnt voice any complaints, but, for a brief moment he was pretty sure that Ram actually seemed a bit pleased that they were sitting together.

Jack quickly dismissed that as wishful thinking, after all why would Ram be happy to sit with someone that he seemed to only just put up with usually?

Jack had planned to just stay silent for the meal, however he forgot about his inability to do such a thing, especialy when he was nervous. Sure enough about five minutes in he started up with his horrendous babbling while mentally cringing at sounding like such an idiot.

Ram either didnt notice or was using a previously unknown show of tact.

In fact after about a minute of Jack-babble Ram cut in and they carried out the rest of the meal with a suprisingly comfortable conversation.

Thankfully Ruby seemed to be holding off any of the truly embaressing aspects of her 'get Ram and Jack together' plan until later. Of course if today was any indication then it was entirely possible that Jack would die of either shock, or frost bite before he could die of mortification.

When they were almost through with that days work Slade came breezing into the room clearly in a bad mood about somthing.

That somthing became clear when Lex waltzed in not a second later.

The whole fight over Ruby had only increasesd the tension in their already tense relationship. Well maybe 'relationship' wasnt the best word, 'people who only just put up with each other' also seemed a bit tame but without resorting to swears, it was the most accurate.

Lex seemed happy, which led Jack to beleive that the former sheriff had probably conned some innocent person out of thier life savings.

As it turned out he was wrong but that was not a good thing if what Slade was hollering about was any indication. "Well Ram you'll be happy to know that we have the part that you need, but if some angry techno's come around dont blame me."

Ram looked pissed. "You stole from the techno's, you idiots! Are you trying to alert Mega and his goons to where we are? This is supposed to be a covert opperation, I know that Jack and I are the only intelligent one's around here but come on!"

Jack was fairly certain at this point that he would have a heart attack by the end of the day.

Ram had just given him a compliment.

Sure it was probably unintentional but still, Ram didn't just compliment people. Jack wasn't the only one to notice Ram's odd behavior. Slade who in the entire time of knowing Ram - including when he had gotten him to walk again - had never heard Ram compliment anyone. He stored that information away for later and refocused on the problem at hand

"I'm not the genious who stole from Mega, that would Lex. Apparently one of his "sources" told him that sector eight had an unguarded warehouse full of computer parts, but when we were leaving about twenty techno's came chasing after us. We only barely got away."

Lex never one to know when to shut his mouth, spoke up. "Hey, it was a reliable source, man, it's not my fault that the techno's chose right then to start gaurding the warehouse, beside's you didn't have any problems with my source before that."

Slade just glared at him with a look in his eyes that clearly said he was about to knock Lex out.

Jack took that as his cue to leave and Ram followed him.

They went to Jack's room and played cards until Ruby came in telling them that Slade and Lex were done fighting. When she saw the two boys sitting on the bed she got an almost maniacal grin on her face which made Jack very nervous.

Deciding that it would be best to cut her off before she started he did the first thing he could think of.

He pretended to choke.

Jack being Jack, this quickly led to him actually choking.Thankfully he got everything under control before he passed out.

Once Ruby and Ram were sure that he was okay they left.

Ram's parting staement was, "breathe much Jack?" But the words didn't have any contempt in them. In fact, although it was pretty hard to decipher Ram sometime's Jack was pretty sure he had heard some concern in the former techno's voice.


	4. revelations

Rain 

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: sorry about the shortness but I wanted to end the chapter there because I have evil tendencies. Next chapter will have actual slashyness in it so hopefully that will make up for it, ciao

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chapter three:revelations

The next month in liberty was chaotic to say the least.

Which is not to say that it had been entirely bad. In fact june had definatly had it's high points. One of the best things in Jack's opinion being that even though Ruby clearly had a death wish for him nothing unbearebly embaressing had happened-yet.

He was not even going to try and fool himself into believing that she wouldn't do her best to tramatize him.

After all it had been a little over a month and while Ram hadn't actually been hostile towards him he hadnt been friendly either. Ruby had frequently and loudly pointed out that if Jack ever wanted to get some action then he had better do somthing.

Of course when he pointed out that he was quite content with the way things were he was promptly ignored.

Jack figured that most of the blame could be layed on Slade since he seemed determined to stay away from liberty as often as possible

. Which was why Jack was currently embaressing the hell out of himself trying to get Slade to stay in liberty for a little while.

Finally Slade seemed to lose his paitence. "Why do you want me to stay so bad, jesus youre acting like a teenage girl with her first crush."

Jack blushed bright red. "I just think that you being here would get Ruby off of my case."

"Why is she on your case in the first place"

Jack considered how to answer that.

If he answered completely honestly then he really didnt know how the other boy would respond. If he only gave a part truth though, maybe Slade could actually help him a little.

"Uh, well, I kind of told that I have a crush on someone and ever since then she's been going out of her way to play matchmaker and it's really embaressing."

"Who do you have crush on?"

Jack's face went red again. "I'd really rather not say."

Slade got a teasing look in his eye "Well it cant be Ruby since you told her, and I doubt that you'd go for Ebo- you dont like Ebony do you?"

"NO, no, no, no, me and Ebony would be the worlds absolute worst couple."

"Okay good not Ebony then, there really aren't that many girls around Jack why don't you just tell me i'm going to guess anyway."

"Trust me you wouldnt guess this person in a million years."

"why, who is it Ram?"

Jack knew it was meant teasingly but that didn't stop his face from turning an unattractive shade of dracula white. When Slade noticed that he stopped laughing and looked like he was about to say somthing before he shook his head slightly and got up from the table.

"Hey Jack I gotta run but i'll talk to Ruby and try to make her see some sense."

"Thanks Slade"

The older boy just nodded before walking away distractedly. Jack refused to let himself think that he had made it quite obvious who he liked. Because that would just cause a whole other mess of troubles that he really, really did not need right now.

So with those thoughts firmly supressed he went to find Ram to see if he needed help.

When he got there though Slade was talking with Ram so Jack decided that in the intrest of his sanity he would just go his room.

That night when he was on his way downstairs Ram grabbed him and dragged him to his room.

"Slade talked to me."

A simple, innocent statement by most standards but Jack knew that this wouldn't lead to anything good.Still he tried his best to stay as calm as he could given the situation.

Which turned out to be about the equivelant of a caffinated four year old who just broke his mothers favorite vase.

"A-about w-what?"

'Oh yes, because that sounded really smooth, way to go Jacky" he thought to himself.

Ram gave a smirk of sorts. "Slade is under the impression that you have a crush on someone, apparently he thinks that i'm the only person who can help you with this. so who is it."

'Well, guess it cant be said that Ram beats around the bush. That's actually kind of cute how direct he is. Oh god i'm thinking about how cute Ram's forwardness is.'

Suddenly Jack comprehended the fact that he had been asked a question. "Um, trust me you really don't want to know."

Now Ram looked kind of upset. "I wouldn't have wasted my time asking you if I didn't want to know."

Jack thought about that, and it was true. Ram would never inquire about somthing if he didn't want to know. He wasnt the kind of person who asked somthing to be polite, Because for the most part he really couldn't care less what people thought of him.

That thought however led to only one conclusion. Either Ram thought that this would affect him or... maybe in his own demented fucked up way he actually cared about Jack.

The mallrat had already had to much stress trying to conceal his secret, so he decided on a reckless plan of action that was so unlike him that he was pretty sure that he must have finally lost his mind.

"You, I like you" and with that he ran out of the room.


	5. agreements

Rain 

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n:im so sucky at being randomly evil. i couldnt just leave it there i had to write what happened next (walks away muttering needing to kill schmoopy tendencies)

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chapter four:agreements

Jack couldn't believe that he was so stupid.

Actualy he could. After all, just because a person was smart didn't mean they couldnt be dumb.

Yeah because that made so much sense.

He was rambling a mile a minute to himself. "Christ, how could I tell him, never mind Ruby trying to ruin my life, clearly I have it completly under control. She'd be so proud. I might as well start digging my grave now, make sure I make it the full six feet because i'm pretty sure i've fucked it up good and well this time"

Just as he was about to start slamming his head against the nearest hard surface, the very last person in the world that he wanted to see came into the room.

"You like ME?"

Ram didn't really sound mad or disgusted, more like incredulous. Then again it was hard to tell Rams emotions.

Jack couldn't even bring himself to speak so he just nodded while looking at the floor.

"Why?"

Well, that was unexpected. Ram wasnt trying to kill him, he was asking Jack why he liked him.

'Huh I didnt realize that I had stumbled into another dimension, they should put up signs or somthing.' Jack didn't realize he had said it out loud until Ram told him to speak up.

"I don't know why, believe me you are the last person that I want to have a crush on."

He laughed self deprecatingly. When Ram didn't respond he looked up and was stunned to see that Ram looked wounded.

"Yes, well, i'm probably not the best person to like am I? After all i'm an evil, heartless, son of a bitch who doesnt care about anyone besides myself right?" Ram said this with a slight sneer but he couldnt quite hide the hurt in his voice.

"No, I didn't mean it like that, just it's really stupid of me to fall for sombody who will never even be able to tolerate my presence let alone actualy like me."

Ram looked suprised. "Who said that I didnt like you? In fact besides Slade your the only one who I dont mind being around."

Needless to say Jack was rather stunned. "Well I mean it's not like you ever gave any indication that you wanted me around."

"I never kicked you out did I? If I hadn't wanted you there I wouldnt have let you help me. Besides it's pretty much just observation now and I still hang out with you."

Well that was a good point, Jack had never thought about it like that before.

Ram got a pained expression on his face like what he was about to say might actually physically hurt him. "Look maybe it might not be entirly horrible to explore this idea of yours."

"Huh?" jack asked eloquently.

"Oh for chrisake do I have to give step by step instructions, i'm saying that I might be willing to see where this little crush of yours leads but nothing public, undertand?"

"No I understood that part, I just dont really understand what you mean by 'eplore this idea of mine'." Ram looked like he hadn't really thought that out but then he got an expression like he was steeling himself for somthing big.

Ram walked over to Jack and after a moment of hesitation leaned forwards and matter of factly placed his lips against Jacks.

It couldn't really be called a kiss, they barely even pressed thier lips together before moving apart again but Jack still felt a little lightheaded.

Ram had a speculative look. "That wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be."

That caught Jack off gaurd."You've never kissed anyone?"

Ram glared at him but then sighed as if resigning himself to his fate. "I've always hated germs, when the virus happened it only increased that. Then I had the accident and I decided that it was better to be safe then sorry. Kissing involves exposing myself to other peoples germs, so no i've never kissed anyone on the lips before."

Jack didn't really know what to say.

The fact that Ram chose him to kiss made him feel kind of special.

"Look let's continue this tommorow, okay, I have to go monitor the techno's activity I think they're working on somthing new."

Jack nodded, afraid that if he spoke Ram might realize what a loser Jack was and change his mind.

Just before Ram left the room he looked back and gave Jack a small smile. "Do you want to help me with the systems check in the morning?"

Jack knew that Ram could do somthing like that in his sleep while highly drugged on painkillers.

It was kind of adorable that the former techno would use such a flimsy excuse just to spend time with him. But he decided to not comment on it because it meant that Ram actually liked him.

"Sure."

Ram gave a brief nod and went back to his room.


	6. the plan stan

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: sorry it took so long but i went camping and they dont really have computers in the woods unfortunatly. in fact i was rather disgruntled to find out that they dont have anything electronoic in the woods (big pout) anyways i tried to make it a litle longer then usual in repentance 

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chapter five: the plan stan

Jack threw the book he was reading at the nearest horizontal surface not really caring if it got there or not.

After all, one couldn't really be expected to be neat when the most rational thought in your head was, 'I wonder if six' o' clock is to early to be morning.' Then again knowing Ram six'o'clock probably was a probably a perfectly acceptable time, and after all it's not like he had actually given Jack a precise time to meet him.

All he had said was 'in the morning' which was rather vague.

Jack was fast realizing how obbsesion could cause you to lose you mind, like that movie that he had watched once with his father before the virus, fatal somthing or other.

At the time he hadn't really understood how someone could care about someone that much, and had been more upset that the bunnies got hurt then anything else.  
Then again he had been ten years old, so it wasn't like he could really be expected to be horribaly impressed by a movie that didn't even have any explosions or chase scenes in it.

This chain of thoughts quickly led to a place that Jack didn't like to think about very often-his life before the virus.

It always depressed him to remember his father. They had become close after his mother had died when he was six. Somtimes it had seemed like they were working out the world together, and often at the same maturity level.

Unbidden came a memory of when he was eight years old, and his father had taken him to see a very scary movie. That night he had woken up screaming from a horrible, vivid nightmare, and his father had let him sleep with him, and even though at eight he had liked to believe that he was all grown up and that he didnt need anyone he had allowed himself to be rocked back to sleep by his father.

The next day his father bought him one of those mini planetariums that shone stars onto your walls. He had been asking for one forever, but his dad had always said that they were to expensive. Although he hadnt realized it at the time, looking back now he knew that it was his fathers way of protecting him.

Jack would have rebelled at the idea of a nightlight so even though he really didn't have the money for it his father had gotten him an acceptable way of keeping the monster in his closet far away.

Jack had been eleven when the virus came and although Selene did her best to mother everyone, it just wasn't the same.

Sometimes when it was late and he was lying in bed he would remeber the sounds of his father getting ready for work early in the morning and the strong smell of cofee in the air. It was both comforting and unbelievably sad to remember all the little things that he had taken for granted back then and would never get back.

Jack had always liked to have other people take care of him. He might be very inteligent, however he was also quite immature and got himself into trouble with a frequency that was, quite frankly alarming.

Why Ram was willing to participate in whatever the hell this was, was completly beyond him. In fact he quite preferred not to think about it because that just might jinx it and Ram was bound to find out what a bad idea this was even without Jack creating bad omens.

Jack looked at the clock again, seven 'wow didn't think that I had been thinking that long.'

Considering that he could hear the distintive clicking and clacking of a keyboard being typed on he decided that it was probably safe now to go and help Ram with the morning scan.

Jack stopped outside Ram's room and after a minute of fierce arguing with himself knocked.

"Come in"

Ram sounded slightly distracted but not irritated so Jack decided to take that as a good sign and opened the door.

The sight that greeted him was not entirely unlike an after picture from a hurricane. Computer parts were scattered everywhere, and it looked as though there were about ten different projects being worked on if the vague piles were anything to go by.

In the middle of this disaster area was Ram sitting at his desk and glaring at the computer screen as if it had just done him a great personel injustice.

Cautiously Jack made his way over to his usual spot next to Ram stopping to remove a spare hard drive from his seat.

"Hi"

Ram finally looked up and gave a brief smile."Hi, it's a good thing I asked you to come over today because I think I know what Mega's planning."

As he was talking he put his hands on his neck, discreetly massaging the muscles there, as if he didnt want Jack to see any signs of weakness. When Jack noticed that, he noticed how tired Ram looked and how every few minutes his stomach would growl lightly.

Clearly Ram had been working on this straight through the night. Deciding that the only thing mentioning it would achieve would be a glare and denial, he just asked what was wrong.

"Well you know how he was barcoding everyone?"

At Jacks nod Ram continued. "It looks like he's decided to take it one step further. Now you need to talk to one of Mega's goons and get thier permission before you can go outside, and even then you have to get back before curfew or your branded a traiter and left outside to deal with the zootists."

Jack was floored. He had thought that the punishment system had been Mega's ultimate low but apparently he could sink just that little bit further.

"And people are just listening?"

Ram gave him one of those 'how dense can you be' looks, that he seemed to have patented.

"Would you argue with the person keeping the crazies out, the power on, and makeing sure you have food?"

"Well no, but if that person was also making me a prisoner then I might have somthing to say about it."

"Your forgetting that on top of Mega's 'good will' he also has the ability to zap you into thinking his way, thanks to that wonderful little punisment sytem that you built him."

Jack felt like he had been punched.

He had, had to build it in order to get Mega to trust him. Besides, with him designing it he could make it so that a minimum of pain could be ensured.

Ram must of noticed his desolute look because he reached over and awkwardly patted Jack's arm "I know why you did it, and if you hadn't someone else would have, so don't bother feeling bad about it."

Although that was true it didn't make Jack feel any better, but he offered up a small smile in appreciation of Ram's attempt at comfort.

Thier eyes locked and almost impeceptably they started to lean closer.

Jack wasn't really thinking to clearly, so when Rams lips met his, it didnt even occur to him to worry about bad breath, or how bad of a kisser he was, or any other awkward thoughts. He just leaned in and kissed Ram back.

This unlike last nights, could definatly be classified as a kiss.

In fact if there were mirrors in the room Jack was fairly certain there would be steam covering them. Ram put one hand on the back of Jack's head and the other on his thigh. At some point Ram ended up on Jack's lap after sitting on different chairs became to uncomfortable for them.

They were so caught up in what they were doing, that they didn't notice the door open.

They did however hear two gasps of shock, and plates falling to the floor and breaking into hundreds of little pieces.

They jerked thier heads up to see the delighted face of Ruby and the amused face of Slade. 


	7. evil overlords and bad announce

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: sorry about the huge wait between chapters but im trying to get them out as fast as i can.

chapter six: evil overlords and bad announcements

Jack struggled to close his mouth and come up with anything resembling english that he could say to fix this disastrous situation.

Ram on the other hand quickly collected himself and gracefully rose up off Jack's lap acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

As if him and Jack groping each other was an everday occurance.

When people failed to see things his way Ram sent a harsh glare at everyone in the room and imperiously asked what Slade wanted.

"You told me to come by at nine to look at Megas new program, but clearly you had your hands full with other matters." It was obvious that it was taking every ounce of self control that Slade possesed to keep a sraight face while saying that.

Jack was so very not amused.

Ruby didn't seem to know what to say which Jack decided to take as a good thing, even though he knew that soon she would be sqealing 'I told you so, I told you so' over and over, probably in a very loud voice to.  
Ram just glared harder, somthing Jack had'nt thought was possible. "Very clever Slade did you bring the parts I asked for or not."

Unconciously Jack put a hand on Ram's arm in order to calm him down. Ram looked over at him and immediatly his face softened. Jack really didn't know what to think about the fact that apprently he held a certain amount of control over Rams feelings.

When he remebered that there were other people in the room Ram immediatly retreated back to his imperious face, and was clearly three seconds from informing someone about how overwhelmingly incompetant they were when the computer started to make a loud beeiping sound.

Ram whipped around to stare at the moniter. After a few seconds of contemplation he looked up and impaitently motioned for Ruby and Slade to leave.

Apprently god was in a giving mood that day because they left without complaint, although Ruby shot Jack a look that clearly stated he was going to have a long talk with her later.

"Whats up?" Jack asked hesitantly.

"Mega's getting ready to send out a tv announcement, and that usualy leads to bad things." As soon as Ram was done saying that a screen appeared with a girl in a techno uniform with a bright smile, and an annoyingly fake voice, who announced that Amber would be giving an important message.

Seconds later Amber appeared on the screen looking sick to her stomach. "Starting today the city will be under lockdown in order to ensure your safety, there will be a strict seven o clock curfew, anybody not inside at that time will be aressted. Anybody caught trying to escape will be considered a defector and punished accordingly."

Here Amber paused and looked as if she could'nt go on until someone offscreen apparently signalled her becausse she pulled herself together and continued in a slightly wavering voice. "Anyone currently outside city limits will unfortunatly not be permitted back inside to due to security reasons."

At the end Amber's voice broke and Jack felt sorry for her, that she should have to be the one to give this message to the people. Mega was way out of line and at the rate he was going, he was bound to to somthing even more drastic and stupid soon.

Jack wasnt sure whether to hope that all of his friends were within techno territory or outside because either way bad things were bound to happen.

It would be practicaly impossible now to get in and out of the city undedected, which made project, defeat Mega a whole lot harder.

Also on a purely selfish level, Lex was curently in liberty and with the latest resttrictions it looked like he would be sticking around for longer then planned. Of course in the same respect Slade wouldn't be able to get into the city either which created a huge problem.

"Wait a second."

Jack looked over at Ram who was wearing a triumphant smirk, the kind he got whenever he got the best of someone. Not quite daring to speak and interupt whatever was going on in Ram's head Jack just sat and waited for the ex techno to explain why he was waiting.

"I can cut the power down from here. It won't exactly be subtle but it will make the people angry with the technos and make it so that we can get around easily."

"Ya but if we do that Mega's bound to want revenge and they are the ones with the weapons."

"Without the power the zootists will get into the city, and cause chaos which will cause more work for Mega, I doubt he'll have to much time for us."

"Which is another problem. There are innocent people there and if we take away the only thing keeping the crazies out then people are bound to get hurt."

"True, but in the long run this plan will save more people then it will hurt."

That was true, but Jack couldn't help thinking about Mouse and Brady and all his other friends. They were probably the safest people in the city, what with the mall but in the same vein they were also in the most danger since Zoot had died at the mall.

It seemed the crazies were getting more powerful every day, and if they didn't do somthing then Mega wouldn't be thier only problem.

It seemed that they couldn't be free insane people trying to tell them what to do. Just look at the past five years, Zoot, the guardian, Ram, Mega, and now apprently Zoot was making a comeback.

They had to figure out a plan and quick. 


	8. suprise, suprise, guess whos back

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

Suprise, suprise, guess who's back

When they had finished talking, Ram kicked Jack out and called Slade in, to discuss the latest problem and show him the brodcast.

Jack wandered to his room trying to avoid Ruby. He just did not have the energy to put up with her interegations right now. In fact, what he really wanted to do was just lay down and sleep for ten hours straight. He knew that, that would never happen, if only because he was incapable of sleeping that long.

Still even a few hours would be better then none, so he layed down on his bed after kicking his shoes off and drew the covers up over his body. He quickly slipped off into a dreamless sleep.

He woke up to the frightning sight of Ruby grining down at him with a bottle of alchohol in her hand.

Clearly she was under the mistaken assumption that Jack trusted her enough to drink around her when she wanted information.

"I'm not drinking whatever that is, you'll just have to try and pry it out of me sober."

Ruby got an indignant look on her face. "Why, Jack I would never dream of doing such a thing. I just thought that you might be thirsty."

"What there was no water left?"

She just pouted. Maybe some people were tricked by her fake innocence but Jack had been the pawn of her games to many times to fall for that. "Why didn't you tell me that you've been kissing our local grouch?"

"Because I have a minor streak of self preservation that tends to kick in, full gear whenever you're around."

Ruby just ignored him like usual of course. "Answer the question Jacky."

"The other night." Jack figured that if he kept his answers as monosylabic as possible he might get himself into less troube, and ignored the 'Jacky' bit since he knew that she would ignore him if he pointed it out.

"And you didn't tell me?" She practicaly screeched. Jack winced, this was exactly why he hadnt told her-he had no desire to face Ruby in interregator mode any more then was strictly necesary.

"He asked me not to." It wasnt a lie after all, and it kept Ruby from yelling at him by telling her the truth.

"Why not?"

"I dont know Ruby, he probably just didn't want people making a big deal about it, you know he's a private guy."

She appeared somewhat pacified. "You still could have told me. So is he a good kisser?" Couldn't she do this girly gossiping thing with someone else? Anyone else really, it didnt matter to him as long as he was far far away at the time.

"You can't honestly expect me to answer that?"

"Of course I do, so is he?"

"Ruby i'm not talking about this with you."

" Oh come on, who else are you going to talk about it with?"

"No one, that's the point. Just becausse i'm kissing a guy, it doesn't make me a girl."

"I know that, if you were this whole thing wouldn't be nearly as interesting, in fact i'd probably be a little worried considering his track record with girls."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked indignantly, even though he knew perfectly well what she meant. Still he supposed he should probably defend Ram considering he was his... well he should defend him in any case, besides hopefully it would distract Ruby from asking anymore questions about his kissing habits.

"You know perfectly well what I mean, now answer the question Jack. Is he a good kisser or not?" Clearly Ruby was more focused on this issue then he had previously thought.

Well if you cant beat them, then cower and bend to thier will, or else they'll probably make your life a living hell. "He's a good kisser but thats all i'm going to say."

Jack put on his very best serious, no-nonsense face.

It didn't seem to have much of an affect. "I mean it Ruby, i'm not going to gossip with you. Besides you had front row seats to the show earlier, I don't know why you want to talk about it besides your sadist voyeur streak."

Ruby just laughed. "I certainly did see the show earlier, and I wish that I had a camera because i'm pretty sure people would pay good money to see Ram sitting on your lap."

Jack blushed furiously. "Can you never mention that again please."

"Of course Jack." She said not even bothering to hide her insencerity. "However I am curious about one thing."

"What?" Jack asked in a wary tone.

"Well I only counted three hands, so i'm wondering where the last one was?" Ruby started laughing histericaly.

"GET OUT RUBY!"

At this point, Slade and Ram slammed into the room. "What's with all the noise, computer geek over here was trying to explain something to me."

Ram looked about ready to blow a gasket when Slade called him that. Ruby started to open her mouth, presumably to answer the question when Jack slammed his hand franticaly over her mouth in an effort to shut her up. "Ruby was just being annoying, nothing to worry about."

Ruby freed herself from Jack's grasp. "I was just asking Jack if he had a hand to spare." Ruby burst out laughing again.

"You are the most infuriuating person on the face of the planet!" Jack yelled.

Ruby just kept laughing.

"We need to call a meeting tommorow." Ram announced, clearly having had enough of Ruby's histerics.

She finaly stopped laughing. "Why, whats wrong?"

"Well that''s why were calling the meeting isn't it? So I can explain it to you. I hate having to repeat myself so I guess you'll just have to wait until tommorow and find out with everyone else." Ram looked insufferably smug, and Jack had a feeling that Ram was paying her back for earlier.

Just then Daryn burst into the room panting loudly. "There's (pant) someone (pant) downstairs (pant, pant)." Ruby looked interested.

"Who?"

Daryn thought for a moment.

"Some blond kid, says his name is Ved."

a/n: dun, dun, dun! i bet your all excited now arent you! dont worry i actualy have an explantaion for why hes here and not dead. hopefully this marvelous plot development will make you forgive me for the mega long wait since last chapter. and if it dosent then im not above bribing you with yummy brownies. REVIEW! 


	9. the truth and cuddly affection

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: wow sorry it took so long, i got writers block on the other series that i'm writing and it kind of trancended into this story. anyways the evil cult known as school has started up again, but have no fear im taking geography and since i have absolutly no intention whatsoever of paying attention in that class i will have time to write.

chapter 8: the truth and cuddly affection

Ram's face paled considerably and Jack nearly choked.

"Does Jay know?" He asked in a high pitched voice.

Ram looked positivly terrified now. Everyone else was looking at the two boys as if worried for thier sanity.

"Why would I tell Jay?" Daryn asked.

Ram spoke up in a suprisingly calm voice considering how completly not calm he looked. "Because Ved is Jays brother, we all thought that he was dead."

Jack had mixed feelings. On the one hand he really did like Ram and wanted to give him the benifet of the doubt, but in his techno days Ram had done a lot of horrible things, and everyone knew that there had been tension between Ram and Ved when Jay had left.

Ram looked Jack sqaure in his eyes, and as if reading his mind answered his unspoken question. "I didn't have anything to do with Ved's disapearence, that was Mega."

Jack felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Ram was not a good lyer, and he had looked sincere so Jack knew that he was telling the truth. Still the thought of how Jay would react kept him from feeling to relieved, because even though the blond would undoubtably be thrilled that his brother was alive, it made everything a lot more complicated then it had been a few minutes ago.

Jay had been devastated when he had found out about his brothers death, and he was only just learning to accept it. This would kill Jay, who always took the weight of the world on his shoulders, to find out that his brother was alive and he had just accepted techno records as fact instead of questioning it.

Still it had to happen sooner or later and in this case sooner was probably better. "Who's going to tell him?" Everyone looked at Jack in suprise like they hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"I will."

Slade of course, Jack was almost certain that Slade had no self preservation instinct at all. After all he was dating Ebony, which showed a serious lack of good judgement. On the other hand Slade really was the best candidate, Daryl had all the tact of a circus clown, Ruby would ask to many questions, Ram would get himself killed, and Jack never knew when to shut up and chances are he would say something stupendously stupid.

Slade was good at getting people to see things his way, if him getting Ram walking was anything to go by.

Everybody looked relieved that they wouldn't be the one who had to tell Jay. Daryl went off to do whatever it was that he did, and Ruby left to try and see Ved.

Ram sat down heavily on Jacks bed, completly devoid of his usual grace. For a boy who had spent the last few years of his life in a wheelchair, Ram was suprisingly agile and was more graceful then any guy had any right to be, so to see him slouching with a defeated air was rather scary.

Jack sat down next to him and cautiously asked what was wrong.

"Ved and I had our problems, but he was still my friend-as much as anyone is my friend in any case. Anyways Ved's girlfriend-Chloe I think- got lost in an early version of paradise, Ved thought that i had done it on purpose, because I didn't like the idea of him dating a vert, so he challenged me to a virtuel duel. If he won then I would do what I could to find Chloe, and if I won he would be deleted."

Jack got a horrified look on his face and Ram quickly continued.

"I wasn't actualy going to do it, I was just trying to prove a point. Mega was suposed to watch over the whole thing to make sure no one got hurt but he messed with the settings so that everything that happened to Ved in virtuality, happened to him in the real world. He said it was an accident but it's impossible, I checked over everything myself before we went in, and it was all working fine. I have more security precations then I could possibaly ever need regarding virtual safety, all thats supposed to happen is a small electracel shock when you get hurt, not enough to seriously injure anyone, even a baby would be okay in it. Mega had to shut down the safety controls on Ved's system."

"Why would he want to kill Ved?"

"I don't know."

After that they sat quietly, slowly inching closer to each other until thier thighs were pressed together. They sat like that for the rest of the night, silently supporting each other and they finaly fell asleep curled together as the sun was coming up.

"Awwwww how adorable!"

Jack groggily opened his eyes and slowly became aware of the fact that he was not alone in bed. 'What the...' he thought to himself until he rembered the events of the night before.

He didn't have to long to dwell on those thoughts though as Ruby, apparently deciding that her precense wasnt clear enough, spoke up again. "And here I thought that you two had only just started kissing, already sleeping together, tsk, tsk, Jacky."

Jack just rolled his eyes knowing that anything he said would just get him into more trouble. He considered asking Ruby how the family reunion between Jay, and Ved had gone, but decided that it would probably be better if he asked Slade.

As long as Jay was willing to listen to Ram's side of the story then Jack was happy, even if having yet another former techno here was a bit unsettleing. Liberty was beginning to seem a bit like the premiere hideout for all those who had a grudge against Mega.

Instead he settled on the safer option of getting Ruby out of the room. "Did you actualy want something, or did you just want to torture me a bit more." Ruby laughed.

"It's ten o clock, I thought that you might be hungry."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup, whatever you boys did last night must have really worn you out."

Ruby tried and failed to keep a straight face.

"Where...?"

Great now Ram was awake to, and Jack really didn't know how Ram was going to react to waking up next to Jack, not to mention the fact that Ruby was in the room. Then again for someone who hadn't wanted the general population knowing about who he kissed, he had been remarkably calm when Ruby and Slade had found out, only showing mild vindictivness towards Ruby and Jack was fairly certain that, that had more to do with her laughing, then her walking in on them.

Of course this only added to the mounting evidence that Ram actualy liked him, So he was going to stick to his policy of leaving potentialy dangerous things alone.

It had worked so far in any case.

In one of her better moments Ruby quietly left the room closing the door behind her. "Umm, you fell asleep in my room last night."

Ram had an adorably sleepy, innocent, look on his face that completely contradicted how he usualy looked.

"Oh, sorry."

"That's okay."

It was more then okay, Jack had always liked having someone to sleep with, he slept better that way, and apparently when Ram was sleeping he was rather cuddly, which was something that Jack definatly wasnt going to object to. 


	10. thank god for anatomy class

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: okay im a bit nervous, because this chapter contains the first boy/boy sex scene that i've ever written. please keep that in mind, another good thing to remember is that this story is not supposed to go above pg-13 and i kept that in mind when writing it, so, heres hoping that its not to horrible

chapter nine: thank god for anatomy class

Jack sat down heavily on the edge of his bed, to tired to care about much of anything.

And considering the day he had just had, that was something of an acomplishment. After all, it wasn't every day that you learned that people much higher in the food chain then you, wanted you dead. Ved had come to liberty bearing information that made Jack want to curl into a little ball and let the big kids handle things.

The fact of the matter was, that Mega was much more powerful then anyone had thought to give him credit for. He had been planning his takeover ever since the technos had taken control, and nobody had suspected a thing.

He had secretly hidden people on islands just off techno territory. Nobody had missed them because they were recorded in the techno database as being deleted or used in early experiments for paradise. In reality Mega had gathered a signifigent amount of people, upwards of three hundred as far as anyone knew, possibaly more.

Mega used a modified virtual reality program to get them to do what he wanted. He had a brainwashed, fully armed, army of over three hundred who would do anything that he wanted, and as if that wasn't enough, people would'nt want to fight them, because these were peoples family, and friends.

Ved didn't know exactly what Mega was planning but with this new information it was safe to assume that it wasn't anything good.

Jack was braver then most people gave him credit for, but this made him cringe. He knew people that had been taken, friends of his his, that he knew if push came to shove he would'nt be able to fight them, which was exactly what Mega must have been counting on.

When Ved had talked about the program used on Mega's prisoners, Ram had gotten a funny look on his face, and when Ved was done reporting, Ram had quietly left the room not saying a word to anyone. Jack had later found out that it was Ram who had originaly created the early version of the brainwashing program.

It was intended as an artificial inteligence, but Ram had never completed it, and had ordered it destroyed. Apprently Mega had gotten his hands on it, and modified it to suit his own purposes.

Jack knew that Ram felt responsible, not only for the program, but for not predicting that Mega was up to something more then just setting a curfew, and putting barcodes on people.

Slade had waited until Ved went upstairs, and then drank several glasses of something alcholic, stumbling up the stairs two hours later.

Jack could'nt help but wonder if they were going to be able to defeat the bad guy this time. Every other time, everything had been right in everyones faces. People knew who the bad guys were, and more or less what they were capable of, but this time everything was so much more difficult, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that Mega had made everyone in techno territory completely dependant on him.

He layed down, and gratefully closed his eyes against the impending migraine, trying to keep his thought processes at a minmum.

Jack sat up, and looked over at his door, suprised when he heard it creaking open.

"Hi."

"Do you want to come in?"

Ram quietly walked over and sat on the edge of Jack's bed.

"I've done a lot of bad things since the virus, things that would probably make you never want to speak to me again. I was trying to make a better world, sacrifices had to be made. I really did think that what I was doing was for the best, I know that other people didn't see it that way, but I did do a lot of things that other people could'nt. I got the power back on, made sure that people had food, made medications, new technology that would make everything easier. Jay got angry with me because I wasn't doing things the way he wanted to do them. He wanted everything done right now, and I wanted to take it slowly. Admittedly my reasons were'nt entirely noble, if I gave people what they wanted all at once then they wouldnt be as appreciative, but history has made it quite clear that when people get what they want, then they get greedy, and all that would do is cause trouble."

Ram stopped for a minute, and sighed.

Jack didn't want to interupt, for fear that Ram would stop, so he just waited paitiently for Ram to continue.

"Still, I would never have done what Mega is doing now. I'm not helping you just because of my grudge against Mega, although i'm sure that's what everybody else thinks. I don't want him using my technology, things that I made to ultimatly help people, to hurt them. I just wanted you to know that."

"I do."

Ram nodded, and Jack thought that he saw relief, and gratitude in the former technos eyes.

Ram brushed his hand against Jack's in a way that Jack would have thought was accidental if it had been anyone other then Ram, who never did anything by accident. Jack's mind shot back to when Ruby, and Slade, had interupted them, wondering how far they would have gone, if nobody had intervened.

And damned if that thought did'nt make him blush something fierce.

Ram looked at him, as if wondering what was going on in Jack's head, but then he got a smirk on his face, like he knew an important secret.

Ram leaned over and gently kissed Jack's lips, in what would have been, sweet, and innocent, if he had'nt been moving his hands down Jack's chest.

Jack's breath hitched when Ram moved his lips to Jack's collarbone.

Jack felt like he had lava running through his veins wherever Ram touched him. When he felt the other boys lips touch his skin, his nerves all felt like shooting stars, and nothing with Ellie had ever been quite this good, and real.

For someone who had apparently never even truly kissed anyone before, Ram certainly knew what he was doing.

Oh, god, and there went all coherant thought, when Ram's lips crashed into his, kissing him with no apparent regard to oxygen and the fact that they both needed it.

It was sloppy and wet, and there was no skill whatsoever involved, and it was the best kiss of Jack's life.

Jack moved his hands up the back of Ram's shirt, shivering when the other boy moaned lightly. Ram ran his hands up Jack's thighs and it was like the fourth of july, pretty, sparkling, fireworks erupting from behind his closed eyes, and it had to be illegal to feel this good.

Thankfully, teenage boys, hormones, and lots of really hot kissing, and groping, don't really add up to clear thinking, because if he was thinking clearly Jack would'nt be able do do what he was doing.

Jack slipped off the bed, and moved between Ram's legs. Ram looked down and sucked in a sharp breath, eyes glazed over slightly, and Jack had never seen him like this, so not in control, and god it was hot.

Jack ran his hands up Ram's legs, pausing for a moment at the other boys belt, running his hands gently over the area just below, enjoying the uneven qaulity of Ram's breathing before continuing upwards.

smiling when he felt stomach muscles tense under his hands, and with a mind of thier own his hands pulled rams shirt up, the other boy mindlessly helping him get it off.

Having trouble breathing himself when Ram layed back on the bed pulling Jack down on top of him.

Unconciously grinding down, and gasping when he felt the results. Ram apparently had no problems with Jacks method, if him jerking his hips up was anything to go by.

Jack could tell that he really, was not going to last, which would have embaressed him more if Ram, wasn't showing signs of being close to the edge to.

A few thrusts later, and both boys were crying out, and, wow, there were the fireworks again.

Jack fell onto his side, Ram nuzzling into his side, and if Jack didn't know any better, it would almost seem as if Ram were being self concious. He looked down into the former techno's face, shocked to see a slightly hesitant look on Ram's face.

Not wanting to say anything, and potentialy screw everything up royaly, he just leaned down, and kissed Ram in what he could only hope was a reasuring way. Judging by the almost smile, that played on the boy's lips, Jack had been sucessful, so he smiled and pulled Ram a little tighter against him, quickly falling into a peaceful sleep. 


	11. we all fall down

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: i feel truly horrible about how long it took to get this chapter out, i had the most major case of writers block in the world, and it took listening to 'my chemical romance' and 'HIM' for like four hours, for inspiration to strike. please dont hate me (goes and hides in a corner)

chapter 10: and we all fall down

When Jack woke up a few hours later it was still dark, and he felt horribaly sticky, in places that he was pretty sure should'nt be feeling sticky.

With that thought, came wonderful pictures, complete with color and sound, and Jack forgot about his discomfort momentarily, in the face of such nice thoughts.

Abrupbtly he realised that he was alone in his bed, which hadn't been the case when he had fallen asleep, which led to a horribaly self concious moment, that probably would have turned into a full scale beating himself up moment if the door hadn't opened.

Ram walked in with wet hair plastered to his face, and a towel in hand.

"you're awake?"

Jack thought that it was intended as a comment, but it came out more like a question, so he nodded his head. Ram shoved his hair out of his face, casting water off in the process.

"Probably a good idea." Jack said with an embaressed grin, motioning to the stain on the front of his pants. Ram gave one of his famous little smirks in response.

Jack went to the bathroom, after quickly gathering some clean clothes, and a towel.

Stepping into the stream of freezing water was always an experiance, and as Jack scrubbed himself clean, he thought back to what he and Ram had done and felt a bit warmer, despite the waters best efforts to freeze him to death.

Once the shower of doom was over with, and Jack was perched on the edge of the toilet, with his towel wrapped tightly around him, uncertainty came back. Jack was suddenly nervous about going back to his room and facing Ram.

Or even worse NOT seeing Ram.

And if that thought didnt make his stomach squirm in a most unpleasant way. Still it wasnt like he could just stay in the bathroom forever, and the longer he stayed in there, the more he was going to get himself worked up. Besides its not like it was even that big a deal.

Oh, who was he kidding, it was a huge deal. And he'd thought that it was awkward the morning after with Ellie. At least with her he had known where he stood.

On the other hand, Ram had come back to Jack's room earlier, so that was probably a good thing right? Jack quickly pulled his clothes on, not even bothering to properly dry off, then headed back to his room, before he could talk himself back out of it.

When he got there, Ram was laying in bed, already back asleep. Jack smiled softly, and gave himself a little mental kick, for once again making something a thousand times more dramatic then it really had any buisness being.

Jack put his stuff down in the corner, telling himself that he'd pick it up in the morning, since he really had to clean his room up anyway.

He quietly slipped into bed next to Ram, doing his best not to wake Ram up. The former head techno, mumbled something in his sleep thats sounded suspiciously like something to do with computers, and rolled over, pressing himself into Jacks side.

Waking up was quite the jarring experiance, as once again Ruby was there for the process. That seemed to be happening with an alarming frequency lately.

The only difference this time, was that she wasnt smiling. "Whasa matter?" Jack mumbled sleepily. Ruby's frown deepened, and when she spoke it was a suprisingly gentle tone.

"Jack wake up, I need to talk to you about something important." That woke Jack up immediatly. Not even Ruby would say something like that unless there was something seriously wrong.

He sat up quickly, and followed Ruby out into the hall so that they wouldnt wake up Ram. "I'm awake, whats wrong?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Jack, last night something happened at the mall."

Jacks stomach turned icy, and he could'nt get his mouth to move to get Ruby to tell him what happened. When she did start talking, he wished with everything he had, that she hadnt. It felt like he could'nt breathe, and he had the sudden urge to run away, and just keep going until he collapsed.

He barely heard Ruby saying that she was sorry, nothing ws registering, and he slowly slid down the wall, until he was sitting with his legs pressed against his chest, and his head on his knees.

Ruby must have gotton Ram, because a few minutes later, or possibaly years - it was somewhat hard to tell, he came out and sat down next to Jack. They stayed silent for a long time, just sitting there on the floor. When Jack lost the glassy look in his eyes, Ram finaly broke the silence.

"What happened?"

When Jack spoke, it was in a hollow voice, that was so unlike him, it shocked Ram.

"She's dead."

"Who is?"

There was a long pause, and finaly Jack looked at Ram with tears just starting to fall down his cheeks.

"Ellie." 


	12. all the kings men

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: the only thing i have to say is that one, its christmas and therefore a very busy time. and two, this is the longest chapter to ever grace this story.

chapter 11: all the kings men 

Ram just stared at Jack, not knowing what to say or do.

He had really only ever lost Java, and truthfully he had'nt really loved her, just appreciated the fact that she loved him. But this was totaly different.

Jack loved Ellie, maybe not in the same way he had before, but it was love nonethless, and Ram really didnt know how to handle that. Beyond that, Ram really was'nt used to comforting people. Usualy he was the one making somebody cry, so trying to get them to stop was a whole new ballgame.

So out of lack of anything better to do, he awkwardly put his arm around Jack, hoping that it was'nt the wrong thing to do. Jack curled into the warmth of Rams shoulder, and started crying heavily, not able to stop now that he had started.

Thankfully, nobody was around, so they were left alone. When Jack finaly managed to stop crying, Ram hauled him up off of the floor, and back into his room. Jack let Ram guide him over to the bed, siting down on the edge tiredly.

Jack randomly thought that it was funny that he should be so tired, considering that he had only woken up a couple of hours ago, but he could barely sit upright. It felt like he was being crushed, but when he layed down and kept completly still, he could almost breathe normaly again.

He heard Ram ask him if he wanted to be alone, and it took all the energy that he had left to say yes. Ram turned off the light, looked over at Jack like he had something to say, shook his head and then left.

When Jack was alone, he forced his mind to shut down, because not letting himself feel anything at all was a hell of a lot better then feeling everything.

When Jack fell asleep, it was only to be confronted with nightmare after nightmare, all of them involving Ellie dying, and him not being able to do anything to stop it. Just before he would wake up, he would see Megas cruely grinning face, taunting him, letting him know that he would never see her again. Jack would wake up panting, and covered in sweat, only to fall asleep again minutes later and have the whole process repeat itself.

Finaly he just decided to stay awake, not able to handle the nightmares anymore.

Staring at the ceiling, he started to remember things that he had never really given much thought to before, but seemed so important now. Like how sometimes Ellie would pounce on him to wake him up, laughing at him when he would yell at her for it. Or once after he got into a fight with a techno, he had banged up his knee real bad, and she bandaged him up, not even laughing or teasing him when he hissed in pain at the peroxide.

Not really anything that was particularly signifigant, but he would never get to make any more memories with her, and that thought struck him hard. Even though it was'nt in the way that she had wanted, he had loved her, always would, and he found himself praying desperatley that wherever she was she knew that.

He heard a knock on his door, and he sat up saying 'come in' in as calm a voice as he could manage. Rubys face peeked around the door, her face questioning, wanting to know if it was okay for her to come in. Jack nodded his head, Ruby may be annoying at times, but she was a good person at heart, and he knew that she would at least be able to give him a little comfort.  
She sat down next to him on the bed, and pulled him into a hug. Jack gratefully hugged her back, closing his eyes against the tears that were threatning to come back.

After a few minutes Ruby quietly asked if he was okay. He nodded his head, even though he knew that she would know it was a lie, thankful when she did'nt push the matter. "Jays called a meeting, to discuss what were going to do, with the attack and everything."She looked at him apologeticaly.

"Okay, i'll be down in a couple minutes, just let me get changed."

Ruby nodded, and after giving one last hug, left the room. Jack looked around his messy room half heartedly, looking for something clean that he could throw on. He quickly pulled on the first pair of jeans that he found, and a shirt that Ellie had liked.

Pushing that thought forcefully out of his head, he hurried downstairs, knowing that Mega had finaly pushed things to far.

Walking towards the corner where the people that made up the resistance were crammed together, Jack noted the grim looks on peoples faces that changed to pity when they caught sight of him. He purposfully ignored them hoping that they would get the message that he did'nt want to talk about it, except in regards to bringing Mega down for good.

He sat down between Ved and Slade, and turned towards Ebony who had started talking as soon as Jack got within hearing range.

"Something has got to be done, and SOON. We can't just sit here making useless plans, while he gets stronger by the day. The longer we wait, the harder its going to be to take him down."

She glared, as if daring someone to argue with her.

Slade crossed his arms over his chest, and looked towards the floor. Ved stayed silent, but that was'nt anything new-he had been pretty quiet, and generaly unlike his old self ever since he had come back. Jack could only imagine the things that he had gone through, it was a wonder that he was doing as well as he was.

Jay did'nt say anything either but it was clear from the look on his face that he completely agreed with what Ebony had said. Jay had always been a shoot first, ask questions later type of guy, and not for the first time Jack thought about how much it must be killing him to stay in liberty while the person who had hurt his brother and countless others was free.

Everybody had thier own reasons for wanting to see Mega out of power, he had hurt so many people, and by the looks of it had no plans of stopping.

It was Ram who finaly spoke up.

"So what are we going to do?"

Ebony scowled a bit more, it was clear that she did'nt actualy know what to do, she just wanted to do something. Jack thought about how he infiltrated the technos, making Mega trust him enought o get inside enemy headquarters, and how little that had accomplished.

"I think the most effective way, would be to take out Mega directly." Jack said, a small amount of anger seeping into his voice, despite his best efforts to keep his voice neutral. Jay looked at him.

"You mean delete him?"

Jack got angry at the use of techno lingo, and jumped up, glaring for all he was worth at Jay.

"Yes Jay, 'delete' him, murder, kill, wipe his sorry ass out of existance! He has ruined peoples lives, he is a sick sadistic bastard, and we'll all be better off when he's six feet under."

Everyone stared at him in shock, not used to seeing him like that. Ebony quickly recovered.

"And how do you propose we do that?"

Suprisingly, there was no sarcasm in her voice, it sounded as though she actualy aproved of the idea. Jack shrugged, slumping back down into his seat, the short burst of anger having worn him out.

"I dont know, that's not really my area of expertise."

Ram was darting concerned glances at him when he thought that no one was looking.

Jack was suprised that nobody had shot down his idea outright, but he was'nt sure if that was because they actualy agreed with it, or just because they thought that he had only said it because he was angry about Ellie.

The meeting went on, but when it was clear that no decisions were going to be made right then, they decided to meet again the next day when everyone had, had time to think.

Jack walked outside, going to the clearing behind the inn where Slade kept his bike, knowing that very few people hung out there. He sat on the ground with his back propped against a large crate that had wood stored in it.

Jack thought about what he had said during the meeting-did he really want to kill Mega? He was less suprised then he probably should have been, when his mind immediatly responded with a vehement YES.

Jack heard footsteps and looked up, shocked when he saw that it was Ved.

The former techno sat down beside him, and immediatly started talking. "I'm sorry about Ellie, I know how it feels to lose someone that you love." Jack nodded, still a little suprised that Ved was talking to him.

"Do you really want to kill him?" The blond boy asked in a neutral tone of voice that did'nt show his opinion on the matter one way or the other.

Jack nodded his head, not about to deny what he had just confirmed with himself. Ved looked at him as if gauging his sincerity. He apparently found what he was looking for, because he got a small smile on his face that held no traces of humor, and sent a small shiver down Jacks back.

"Good."

With that, Ved stood up and walked away without looking back. Jack sat there more confused now then he had been before. What had Ved meant 'good'? Jack definatly understood the want and need to take Mega as far out of the picture as possible, but the way Ved had said it... it was almost like he would get a personel pleasure out of it.

When the sun started to set Jack went back inside, making a side trip Rubys way when his stomach started to protest not being fed. After burning his throught with some scalding, but delicious soup, he went up to his room.

Jack was still thinking about his strange talk with Ved as he was getting ready for bed. Of course 'talk' might be the wrong word to use. It was fairly one-sided for one thing, and thinking back it almost seemed as if Ved had been testing him. What he was being tested on was beyond Jack, but he was fairly certain that he had passed whatever it was.

He just was'nt sure how to feel about that. Another thing that was worrying him, was that Ram had'nt talked to him since that morning, when he had said he wanted to be alone. Great, as if he needed yet another thing to worry about. Jack could only hope that Ram was'nt angry at him for some unfathomable reason.  
Even if he was there was'nt a lot that Jack could do about it. His head steadily filling with one deppresive thought after another, Jack slipped into the sanctuary of sleep.

Waking up was a pleasent experiance-at least it was for the first thirty seconds, where he was blissfully unaware of all problems with the world. When he did remember, he felt a strong urge to go back to sleep just so that he could forget again. But then he thought of how disapointed Ellie would be with him for not facing his problems, and resolutley got out of bed.

After taking a quick shower, and making a half-hearted effort to clean up his room, Jack walked down the hall to Rams room. Jack had taken to going there every morning, partialy so that he knew what was happening with everything, but mostly so that he could be near Ram.

The former techno did'nt seem to mind, in fact some days he even seemed to enjoy Jacks presance. He knocked lightly on the door, waiting for Rams muttered 'come in' before opening the door.

The other boy was sitting in front of three different moniters, apparently focused pretty intently on something. It was a minute before he looked up, and when he did Jack was'nt greeted with the small smile that he had become accustomed to getting when the two of them were alone together.

"What?" Ram snapped, not even waiting for an answer before looking back at his computer. Jack decided not to comment on Rams behavior.

"Uhh... nothing I guess, if you're busy I can come back later." Ram looked up again, but this time he did'nt look irritated.

"Come sit."

It was said in clipped tones, but Jack knew Ram would'nt have bothered to say it at all, unless he really did want Jack there, so he did as Ram said and sat next to him.

"What's up?"

"Megas been modifying his little brainwashing program, but he messed up. He's been doing it on the mainframe and not wherever he was working on it before."

He looked at Jack expectantly. Jack grinned as he caught the implications of what Ram was saying.

"So you can make your own adjustments to the program, without him knowing a thing."

"I think we found our way in." Ram said with a grin of his own.

Jack leaned forward impulsivley, and kissed Ram on the lips. When he pulled back he noticed that Ram had the same expression on his face that he had, had yesterday, like he had something to say, but was'nt sure how. He stayed silent knowing that Ram would be more likely to tell him, if he just waited.

"Why are we doing this?" Ram blurted out, then got a look on his face like he was suprised that he had just said that.

Jack had no clue what Ram was talking about. "Come again?"

"This."

Ram gestured between them.

"What is this?"

"Oh."

Okay, that was something that Jack had definatly not been expecting.

"I don't know, I like you, and you seem to not hate me, but other then that..." Jack trailed off, not wanting to go into a ramble that would probably make him look like a complete idiot.

"No thats not what I mean."

Ram looked frustrated, and for the first time since Jack had met him, the former tecno looked as if he had no clue what to say.

"Okay, so, uhh, what do you mean."

"I MEAN, what are we? Are we dating, or just people who kiss?"

Jack blushed furiously, his thoughts going a thousand miles a hour, Jack liked to think of what they were doing as dating, but what if Ram only wanted it to be just kissing.

"What do you want it to be?"

Dear lord, Jack could not believe that he had just said that.

He could'nt be sure, but it almost looked as if Ram was blushing. Not lobster red, like Jack usualy did, but blushing nonetheless.

In a voice so light that Jack barely heard it, Ram answered.

"Dating." 


	13. bad sheriff

Rain

Author: rainyday101

Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on

Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n:look i know that its been forever since i updated and im sure that nobodys even reading this anymore. my internet got shut off for like a month and then my grandmother went in the hospital and then my stepmom went in the hospital and everything has just been very very hectic and to top it all off im going to be moving again soon. i promise to anyone still reading that i will NOT abandon this story, i love it way to much for that, just with how hectic things are i really cant offer any assurances on how long it will be between chapters. sorry. no really though, sorry. okaqy that was the longest authors notes ever so heres the (short) chapter which is mostly a bridge to get us ready for all my big evil plot ideas

chapter 12: It had been a week since Ellie had died, and Jack was almost ashamed of how well everything was going until he remembered that Ellie was the type of person who would of been furious if things HAD'NT been going great.

She had always believed that you only had so long to live, so you might as well make the most of it.

Him and Ram had made a lot of progress with thier plan. They had'nt really told anyone else the details yet, prefering to wait until everything was set up.

And Ram had kissed him in public.

Granted it had been a bit awkward, since Lex had cracked jokes about them non-stop afterwards, but still, Jack knew that it was Rams way of showing him that he had meant what he said. Hesitant as he had been to say it, Ram had not taken his wanting them to be an actual 'couple' back.

Ruby of course, thought that it was the sweetest thing since the invention of valentines day, and wasnt shy about saying so. Jack felt like telling her about the valentines day massacare just to get her to be quiet, but figured that at least this was fairly innocent.

After all if he made Ruby mad, he would'nt put it past her to do something truly evil.

Like start barging into his room at five'o'clock in the morning hoping to catch him and Ram sleeping together, which she had actualy done before.

Ved had pretty much left him alone since thier strange talk. Jack still was'nt quite sure what to make of it, but had come to the conclusion that leaving it alone was probably the best option.

Best of all, Mega while not exactly being a model citizen had'nt been doing anything to bad. Jack was'nt stupid enough to think that, that meant Mega was out of the game though. In fact if one were being pessimistic, it might even be viewed as a bad sign. After all if he was keeping quiet that meant that he was either working on something really big or truly awful.

Or both.

When Jack told Ram about this theory, the former techno had'nt said anything just tensed his jaw and typed faster. Things were very tense, and Jack figured that it was probably somewhat of a good thing that people had thier little everyday melodramas to worry about.

After all focusing on the fact that Lex was pulling yet another scam was easier then thinking about the bigger problems.

There had been a few more unproductive meetings, usualy ending with Ebony storming off, yelling loudly about doing things herself, closely followed by Slade running after her in an attempt to talk some sense into her.

Jack was shook out of his thoughts when Daryn knocked on his door and then barged in without waiting for a response.

"Rubys about to kill Lex!"

"What?"

"Seriously, she took the bat down and everything, hurry!" Jack ran out his room, following Daryn down to the parlor where Ruby was indeed standing over Lex holding a bat and yelling at him.

"How could you Lex! Do you have any idea just how badly you fucked up this time?"

Jack hurried over to her. "Ruby what's going on?"

She shot him a quick look before turning her full attention back on Lex. Jack thought she was'nt going to answer him at first and started to repeat the question before Ruby interupted him.

"Lex,"

She said the name as if it tasted particularly fowl.

"Lex in all of his idiocy has alerted Mega of the fact that we have more then one known fugitive living here."

"What?"

"Ruby, come on you can't possibaly blame me-"

Ruby cut Lex off with a glare fierce enough to melt steel.

"Of course I can blame you, you're the one who came up with this idiotic 'virtual casino idea'. This is entirely YOUR fault Lex."

Now Jack was really confused.

"Huh?" He asked eloquently.

Ruby threw the bat down, kicked Lex in the shin, and grabbed Jacks elbow steering him towards her room.

"Come on, i'll explain everything." She said, throwing one last glare Lex's way.

Jack silently followed not wanting to upset Ruby even more. When they got to her bedroom she slammed the door shut stomping over to her bed and motioning angrily for jack to sit down as well.

When he had situatated himself on the bed Ruby immediatly started ranting. "That moronic sad excuse for a human being down there, failed to check out his software before putting it into use. Apparently some of the parts that he used to build it belonged to the technos, and therefore are linked directly to MEGA!"

The last word was screamed and Ruby seemed to be just getting started.

But by now Jack understood where she was going with this and had half a mind to go downstairs and kill Lex himself.

"So assuming Mega has found out that someone else is using his software which i'm sure he has, he'll be able to know everyone that go's into the casino."

Christ this is very very bad. 


	14. anger management

Rain

author: rainyday101

raiting: pg for now but it will most likely be pg13 later on

disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.

summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH

a/n: see, i told you i wouldnt abandon the story. still i do feel rather bad about the length of time it took me to update, though in all fairness i do have somewhat of an excuse. basicaly massively pissed me off by taking one of my storys down, so i decided to boycott the site for a while. thankfully im pretty much over that now. it will probably still be a rather long time in between updates, as i have other projects that i am working on. you can thank the new co-author of this story (whose name i do not know, or i would let ya know who it is) for motivating me to get working again.

Jack usualy at least tried to think positivley.

However there were times though that things were to fucked to look for the bright side, this being one of those times. Nobody was even speaking to Lex just glaring at him, as if they hoped that it might kill him if they threw enough dirty looks his way. Ram was unaproachable. He had helped construct the stupid casino, and was clearly taking it to heart that he had let things get so screwed up.

Nobody really blamed him except for himself, he had helped Lex build it simply so the ex-sheriff would be out of the way. When Jack had told him that it was'nt his fault the ex-techno had looked at him like one would to a small child who had just said something completly ridiculus.

Ram seemed incapable of not letting the entire world rest on his shoulders and Jack did'nt know what to do about it. So basicaly they avoided the subject entirely and just worked on ways to fix what Lex had done.

After a couple weeks of 'the avoidance game' as Jack had taken to calling it in his head, things started to boil over. Slade had his hands full keeping Ruby from outright killing Lex, Ebony was furious that Slade was to busy to dote on her, and Ram had taken to snapping viciously at anyone within a ten foot radious. Despite all of this madness, Jack had decided to take on the burden of trying to speak with Lex.

Just as he was about to knock on Lex's door, he heard loud angry voices coming from the other side.

"Do you have any idea of what you've done?" Asked Ram with a glare so intense, that it could probably melt ice.

"But, I-" Lex tried, before Ram cut him off.

"You what, Lex? You decided to show off you stupidity and put us all in danger? You thought that Mega wouldn't notice? Or, maybe you didn't even think about that? " Ram spat at the former sheriff.

"It's not my fault, how the fuck was I supposed to have known that it was Mega's stuff. It's not like I asked my guy where he got the stuff from. He's reliable!" Lex defended himself.

"No, he obviously isn't! And, maybe you should have asked him, so that shit like this doesn't happen." Ram said trying to calm down, because getting worked up probably wasn't the best thing to do in this situation.

"That stupid casino was your idea, and I have no idea why I even helped you, that was such a fucking dumb thing to do." continued Ram, really not succeding in getting any calmer.

"That's right you did construct it, why didn't you notice it was techno parts you used?" Lex snapped, he was not about to get all this shit on him. He just wanted to get a little extra money, and maybe get that necklace one of his guys had shown him. He knew a girl who would really like it, and she was a tough one, so maybe the necklace would help.

He had'nt even considered the possibility that Mega could see everyone that entered the casino. It was'nt exactly a very pressing concern at the time after all.

Just then there was a knock on the door, and Lex petulantly stomped over to open it, shouting 'what!'

Jack took a quick step back in suprise, then walked into the room.

"Since nobody else seems cabable of doing anything but blaming the entire thing on you-"

Lex got a pleased look on his face, as if he thought that this meant that Jack didnt blame him.

Jack quickly amended this statement.

"Not that they have any reason not to of course, but we need to find a solution instead of bickering like children."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that, oh mighty one?"

Jack got a small grin on his face. "Well, I might just have a solution to that." 


End file.
